Via his account on the famous social networking site,Twitter, Arnoud announced in Dutch his ‘Nieuwe start’ (New start) as a Muslim. The news was confirmed in Dutch news as well.

The news is one of the latest breaking in the Netherlands.

Till the end of 2011, Arnoud van Doorn was a member of the fiery, far-right, anti-Islam, anti-immigration Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV) Dutch party.

On February 27, 2013, Arnoud posted a tweet in Arabic declaring his Shahadah (Testimony of Faith): Ashhadu an-la ilaha illallah, wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluhu (I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger).

The phrase is known as the First Pillar of Islam that in order for a person to be a Muslim this conviction is firstly needed.

Given his previous explicit views on Islam, Arnoud’s story was a shock to many who doubted and harshly criticized the announcement, which is still a subject of debate on twitter. In another tweet, he expressed his grief and discomfort with ‘the many hateful comments on social media’.

Arnoud account was deluged with hundreds of followers and positive comments backing and congratulating his choice. To them he posted a late tweet in both English and Arabic expressing his gratitude: ‘Thanks for all the support!’

In face of strong attacks on Twitter, Arnoud declined to comment on the reasons or circumstances behind his conversion, confirming that the choice is his own and that his religion was ‘a matter of privacy’.

He just stated that more details about his conversion will be released soon.

And it is...

In an interview with Al-Jazeera.net, Doorn made it quite certain confirming the truth of his conversion, and thus removing the spreading doubts about it.

‘Anyone who knows me closely can just predict the decision. For more than a year now I have been learning deeply about Islam through books and talks.

‘No doubt, other than those close, many are shocked by the decision, particularly those who know of my anti-Islam stands. And this is why they are questioning it.’

On the grounds for his decision Arnoud explained: ‘I’m a person who is looking beneath the surface of things, so I judge them not according to the appearance or just what’s said and heard.

‘After communicating with a Muslim colleague at The Hague’s city council- and after long discussions in fact- he directed me to the Sunni mosque where I was embraced with all kindness and affection. My decision came later as I freely embraced Islam. And it is one of my own, out of the question.”

And on quitting a party known with its open enmity against Islam, and being at time one of its voices, Doorn said: ‘We all make mistakes. But, regardless of that, I see for every life experience there’s a meaning. And my own experience has its relevance to my new choice.’

‘I’ve learned so much from such experience. And I believe it is the reason why I am a Muslim now. It is a new beginning of my life I ask God to guide me through’, He concluded.

Certainly, guidance is from Allah (Exalted is He), and Arnoud is the very example.

We all welcome Arnoud to Islam and ask God to guide him to His right path.

Daniel Streich, military instructor and, until recently, a Swiss People’s Party (SVP) politician in the city of Bulle, has left the party, the political party that pushed the minaret ban initiative. The reason: He converted to Islam. For two years he kept this secret from his ex-party. Now, with the “witch hunt against Islam,” this situation has become unbearable for him.

He was a true SVPer and Christian. He read the Bible and regularly went to church. Now Daniel Streich, military instructor and community council member, reads the Qur’an, prays five times a day and goes to a mosque.

“Islam offers me logical answers to important life questions, which, in the end, I never found in Christianity,” says Streich.
Because he could no longer stand the “SVP’s witch hunt against Islam” Streich left the part two weeks ago (around November 10, 2009) and has made his conversion to Islam become publicly known two years after his conversion. Now he’s participating in the building of the new Civil Conservative Democratic Party in the canton of Freiburg. The former churchgoer is vehemently against the minaret initiative: “If the initiative passes, it will be an absolute deep blow for me. I would have to ask myself, why I applied myself professionally and politically for over 30 years for this political system.” In contrast, Switzerland urgently needs more mosques. “It is not worthy of Switzerland to force Muslims to practice their faith in back alleys.”

Reactions in the SVP were mixed. “Everyone can believe what he wants to,” says General Secretary Martin Baltisser. SVP-National Council member Alfred Heer had a less friendly reaction. Political scientist Georg Lutz: “The SVP and Islam stand closer to each other than people suppose. Both advance a conservative worldview.”